Recently a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University gave an invited talk at the 4th Annual Alternative Energy Symposium at Rutgers University.
Dr. Robert Balog, assistant professor in the department, gave a technical talk to an audience of academic researchers and engineering practitioners on “Making Solar Power (Photovoltaic) Affordable.”
During his talk Balog explored the significant issues limiting the ubiquity of solar, using examples and photos from the Rutgers University 1,400kW and Texas A&M 27.6kW solar arrays. Balog was quoted as saying “even if solar cells were free, the cost of photovoltaic energy is still too high due to the up-front and operational and maintenance balance-of-system costs.”
Balog also offered solutions from his current research program of new technologies he had developed to lower the cost of the solar energy, improve the safety of the electrical system, and make investigating residential solar more accessible to the layperson through a smartphone app.
Balog is affiliated with the Electric Power and Power Electronics Group in the department. He received his BSEE from Rutgers University in 1996 and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2006. He has more than seven years of industry experience, including launching a technology startup company commercializing his work in residential scale solar inverters. He holds 14 issued and pending US patents and is a licensed professional engineer. Balog is the director of the Renewable Energy and Advanced Power Electronics Research Laboratory and is currently investigating novel balance of system technologies to holistically address the cells-to-grid interface challenges in solar energy. Honors include receiving the 2011 Rutgers University Distinguished Engineer Award, being named an Ernest A. Reid Fellow, the first IEEE International Telecommunications Energy Conference (INTELEC) Fellow and receiving two Grainger Outstanding Power Engineering Awards. He was recently selected for membership in the External Body of the Hungarian Academy of Science.